Tech huddles today to figure out approach to Trump

11/16/2016 10:00 AM EST

With help from Tony Romm, Nancy Scola, Margaret Harding McGill and Alex Byers

TECH PUZZLE: HOW TO LOBBY TRUMP? — How does the tech sector approach the incoming Trump administration, when nearly the entire industry was behind Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump attacked some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names? Today might bring a few answers, as some of tech’s leading trade groups huddle to talk strategy. Tony sets the scene: “Many tech executives long preferred Clinton, arguing she had the policy chops to tackle some of the industry’s most pressing needs, like immigration and surveillance reforms. And they weren't shy about expressing their feelings: Some of the sector’s leaders, such as LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, even went so far as to publicly rebuke Trump as a ‘disaster for innovation’ in July. … Now that Trump is headed to the White House, however, the tech industry’s top task in D.C. is to figure out how to mend those political fences — and fast.” More, for Pros, here.

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Trust in Peter? One member of Trump’s transition team, Peter Thiel, may offer hope for tech. The well-connected venture capitalist and Facebook board member is poised to play the role of liaison and “could grant Silicon Valley a coveted voice at the discussion table,” Tony writes.

Wanna trade? Multiple sources tell our friends at Pro Trade that Thiel is being seriously considered for the position of U.S. Trade Representative, the administration’s chief trade negotiator. We’re tracking.

One other thing we’re tracking: where Trump’s Commerce Department might come down on Cuba. Pritzker played a central role in sorting out the details of normalizing the U.S. economic relationship with the island nation, including whether American tech companies can do business there. If the Trump administration keeps any sort of economic re-engagement with Cuba, nailing down the nitty-gritty could fall to Ross. Trump’s take on Cuba isn’t entirely clear, though he's talked about rolling back re-engagement unless the Castro regime makes progress on “religious and political freedom.”

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING! Welcome to Morning Tech, where it’s nearly winter coat season. Send your tech tips and comments to lzhou@politico.com and @liszhou. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after the calendar.

WALDEN: LET’S DO A NET NEUTRALITY BILL —House telecom subcommittee chief (and potential Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman) Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is still on board with enshrining net neutrality principles into law, he told MT. Back during the dustup over the FCC’s Open Internet order last year, Walden, along with Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), had pushed a bill to mandate no blocking and no throttling of web traffic — without reclassifying broadband providers as common carriers. But it went nowhere. “There were things we could find common ground on, and should have been able to,” Walden said. “Blocking, throttling, the abusive things people were concerned about, we should put in statute. I’d be fine with that.”

Many Democrats at the time refused to come to the table on legislation, since they had the votes to pass the net neutrality rules at the FCC. But with the Trump win and Republicans set to take over agency — and likely intent on reversing the Open Internet order — Democrats may be more willing to play ball on the Hill. We’re tracking.

WHEELER AIDE DEPARTING — Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, is leaving the agency for a fellowship with the Open Society Foundations, the George Soros-backed group, MT has learned. As president and CEO of Public Knowledge from 2001 to 2013, Sohn was known as an outspoken critic of the agency and a fierce consumer advocate when Wheeler tapped her to join his office in November 2013. She pushed for strong net neutrality rules before joining the commission, and was considered a key adviser in the development of the Open Internet Order. In January, she will begin a year-long Leadership in Government Fellowship focused on how public policy can help improve access to communications networks.

POKEMON GO(ES) TO CONGRESS — CEO John Hanke of Niantic, the maker of Pokemon Go, will testify at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing today on so-called augmented reality and how it applies to gaming, transportation, scientific research and other sectors. Chairman John Thune will argue against “jumping in too soon with a heavy-handed regulatory approach,” according to prepared remarks. “While there are certainly important policy questions to consider, such as the privacy of user data recorded by AR devices, it is essential that policymakers not unnecessarily stifle innovation. Instead, we should foster an environment that maximizes the potential benefits of this promising new technology,” he’s expected to say.

SELF-DRIVING CARS, TAKE TWO —It’s a popular issue in the lame duck. Today Senate Appropriations’ Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee will look at autonomous vehicles and the role the federal and state governments should play in ensuring consumer safety as the technology expands. “Ninety-four percent of roadway crashes are the result of human factors, or simply put, driver error, such as distracted driving, impaired driving, and speeding,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will say, according to prepared remarks. “These crashes are preventable, and we should do everything we can to eliminate them.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind is among the witnesses. The approps hearing follows a House Energy and Commerce discussion of the same topic Tuesday.

#DAILYDARRELL: ISSA WIDENS LEAD — Still no final call, but Rep. Darrell Issa’s lead against challenger Doug Applegate in the race for California’s 49th District had reached two percentage points, as of the latest vote tally on Tuesday. The updated figures have Issa ahead 51 percent to 49 percent, or slightly more than 4,600 votes, according to The New York Times. There are still a number of mail-in ballots that have yet to be counted, but the widening lead bodes well for Issa, one of tech’s leading GOP advocates in Congress. He tweeted Tuesday: “Our lead is holding strong.”

IBM CEO: TRUMP SHOULD EXPAND ‘NEW COLLAR’ JOBS —Ginni Rometty is urging President-elect Donald Trump to support programs that prepare workers for the jobs of the future. “We are creating and hiring to fill ‘new collar’ jobs — entirely new roles in areas such as cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence and cognitive business,” Rometty wrote to Trump this week. “Let’s work together to scale up this approach of vocational training, creating a national corps of skilled workers trained to take the ‘new collar’ IT jobs that are in demand here in America.”

Upgrading Washington: Technology in the Next Administration—Join POLITICO for a deep-dive conversation on what it will take for the next generation of Washington leaders to bridge the government technology gap. What’s really the current state of government I.T., and what are the tools available — and missing— for the next administration to harness America’s advantages in tech and innovation? Speakers include: Seamus Kraft, OpenGov Foundation; Tony Scott, United States chief information officer; Megan Smith, United States chief technology officer. Nov. 18, 8 a.m. — The Newseum. RSVP: Here.

SPOTTED: An MT reader sends us a photo of Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, at Hillary Clinton’s election night party-that-wasn’t in New York City. Schmidt served in a personal capacity as an adviser to the Clinton operation, and the campaign seems to have taken that role seriously: He’s wearing a "staff" badge.

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